When To Use Text Highlighter
Text highlighter questions show respondents a passage and ask them to select and tag specific spans of it. They are useful for message testing, ad or policy copy reactions, identifying which phrases in a stimulus drive agreement or concern, and lightweight qualitative coding done directly by respondents instead of by a research team after the fact.
Block Builder: Text Highlighter
Use text highlighter when which part of a passage stands out is the data. If you only need a reaction to the passage as a whole, pair a Content Block stimulus with a Grid Matrix or Slider follow-up instead.
How It Supports Research Design
- Passage: the stimulus text respondents highlight.
- Tags: color-coded categories respondents assign to each highlight (for example, Positive / Negative).
- Minimum and maximum highlights: require at least one highlight, or cap how many a respondent can create.
- Instructions: tell respondents how to pick a tag before highlighting and what counts as a highlight-worthy phrase.
Configure It In Domandata
Step 1: Open Block Builder. Open the survey and select the block where the stimulus reaction task belongs.
Step 1: Open Block Builder
Step 2: Add a Text Highlighter question. Choose Text Highlighter from the question type selector.
Step 2: Choose Text Highlighter question type
Step 3: Paste the passage. Use the exact stimulus text respondents should react to — the same considerations as any media or text stimulus apply here.
Step 3: Paste the passage
Step 4: Define tags. Add one or more color-coded tags respondents choose between before highlighting; a single tag works when you only need "what stood out," not why.
Step 4: Define tags
Step 5: Name and code it. Add a readable variable name so the exported highlight data is easy to locate.
Step 5: Variable Name
Step 6: Preview the highlighting interaction. Select a tag, then select text in the passage to confirm the highlight applies and can be removed by clicking it again.
Step 6: Preview the highlighter
Preview: Try Text Highlighter
Text Highlighter: Respondent View
Select a tag and highlight text in the passage — the same interaction respondents use.
Data And Export Notes
Each highlight exports with the exact character span it covers in the authored passage, the tag applied, and a snapshot of the highlighted text itself. Because spans are tied to the authored passage, editing the passage text after collection starts can make earlier offsets harder to interpret.